Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

And thought he wolde amenden all the jape,

He fhulde kiffe his ers er that he scape;

And up the window did he haftily,
And out his ers he putteth privily

3800

Over the buttok, to the hanche bon;

And therwith fpake this clerk, this Abfolon,

Speke fwete bird, I n'ot not wher thou art.
This Nicholas anon let fleen a fart

As gret as it had been a thonder dint,

3805

That with the ftreke he was wel nie yblint;

And he was redy with his yren hote,

Off goth the finne an hondbrede al aboute.

3810

And Nicholas amid the ers he smote.

[ocr errors]

The hote culter brenned fo his toute,
That for the (mert he wened for to dies
As he were wood for wo he gan to crie
Helpe, water, water! help for Goddes herte!
This carpenter out of his flomber sterte,
And herd on crie Water as he were wood,
And thought, alas! now cometh Noes flood..
He fet him up withouten wordes mo,
And with his axe he fmote the cord atwo,
And doun goth all; he fond neyther to selle
Ne breed ne ale til he came to the felle,

3815

3820

. 3809. an bondbrede al aboute] Al has been added for the fake of the metre, but I believe unneceffarily. The original phrafe was an bondes brede, an hands-breadth; fo that bondbrede (as it is written in some mi.) would naturally continue to be pronounced as a trifyllable.

.3819 be fond neyther to felle] This is a Fr. phrafe. Fabliaux, t. ii. p. 282;

[ocr errors]

Upon the flore, and ther afwoune he lay."
Up fterten Alifon and Nicholay,
And crieden, Out and harrow! in the ftrete.
The neighboures bothe fmale and grete
In rannen for to gauren on this man,*
That yet afwoune lay bothe pale and wan,

For with the fall he broften hath his arm.
But ftonden he muft unto his owen harm,
For whan he spake he was anon bore doun
With Hendy Nicholas and Alifoun.
They tolden every man that he was wood,
He was agafte fo of Noes flood-
Thurgh fantafie, that of his vanitee

3815

3830

He had ybought him kneding tubbes three,

And had hem honged in the roof above, - 1

3835

And that he praied hem for Goddes love
To fitten in the roof par compagnie.

The folk gan laughen at his fantafie.
Into the roof they kyken and they gape,
And turned all his harm into a jape.
For what fo that this carpenter answerd
It was for nought, no man his refon herd.
With othes gret he was fo fworné adoun
That he was holden wood in all the toun,

3840

For everich clerk anon right held with other; 3845 They faid the man was wood, my leve brother;

Ainc tant come il mift a defcendre

Ne trouva point de pain a vendre.

In the next verfe felle, for the fake ofthe rhyme, is put for filles Sax. fyl, Fr. fueil, Lat. folum.

And every wight gan laughen at this ftrif.
Thus fwived was the carpenteres wif
For all his keping and his jalousie,

And Abfolon hath kit hire nether eye,

3850

And Nicholas is fcalded in the toute.

This Tale is don, and God fave all the route.

THE REVES PROLOGUE.

WHAN folk han laughed at this nice cas

Of Abfolon and Hendy Nicholas,

Diverse folk diverfely they saide,

3855

But for the more part they lought and plaide;

Ne at this Tale I saw no man him greve

But it were only Ofewold the Reve:
Because he was of carpenteres craft
A litel ire is in his herte ylaft;

3860

He gan to grutch and blamen it a lite.

So the ik, quod he, ful wel coude I him quite

With blering of a proude milleres eye,

If that me list to speke of ribaudrie.

.3853. Whan folk han laughed] The better mff. readlaughen, which therefore is probably right. Chaucer fometimes forms the participle of the past time in en, even in those verbs of which he alfo ufes the participle in ed. See ver. 3311, was Shen, 7354, faren; for washed and fared.

V. 3862. So the ik] So the 1, fo may I the, or thrive. This ancient phrafe is terribly corrupted in most of the mff. and editt. It occurs again below, ver. 12881, 16397.

.3863. With blering] With a trick put upon a proud miller: fo ver. 17201, blered is thyn eye; thouart cheated. And R. R. ver. 3912, almoft blered is mine eye; I am almoft cheated.

But ik am olde; me lift not play for age;

3865

Gras time is don, my foddre is now forage:

This white top writeth min olde yeres;

Min herte is alfo mouled as min heres;
But if I fare as doth an open ers,'
That ilke fruit is ever lenger the wers
Til it be roten in mullok or in fire.
We olde nien, I drede, fo faren we;
Til we be roten can we not be ripe;

3870

ད ། ༈ ་ ་

We hoppe alway while that the world wol pipe;
For in our will ther stiketh ever a nayl,

To have an hore hed and a grene tayl,

As hath a leke; for though our might be gon
Our will defireth folly ever in on;

For whan we may not don than wol we speken,
Yet in our afhen cold is fire yreken.

Four glades han we which I fhal devise,
Avaunting, lying, anger, and covetife;
These foure sparkes longen unto ́elde;
Our olde limes mow wel ben unwelde,

3875

3880

. 3877. As bath a leke] Eoccace has the fame allufion, Decam. Introd. to D. iv.; " Et quegli, che contra alla mia eta "parlando vanno, moftran male che conofcano, che per che "il porro habbi il capo bianco, che la coda fia verde."

. 3880. Yet in our afhen] There is fo great a resemblance between this line and the following of The Churchyard Elegy, Dodley's Coll. vol. 4,

Ev'n in our afbes live their wonted fires

that I fhould certainly have confidered the latter as an imitation, if Mr. Gray himfelf had not referred us to the 169 (170) fonnet of Petrarch as his original;

Ch'i' veggio nel penfier, &c.

But will ne fhall not faillen that is fothe...
And yet have I alway a coltes tothe,

As many a yere as it is paffed henne

Sin that my tappe of lif began to renne:
For fikerly whan I was borne anon

[ocr errors]

3885

Deth drow the tappe of lif and let it gon; 3890
And ever fith hath fo the tappe yronnejne doi
Til that almost all empty is the tonne;
The ftreme of lif now droppeth on the chimbe.
The fely tonge may wel ringe and chimbe

Of wretchedneffe that paffed is ful yore: 3895
With olde folk fave dutage is no more.

Whan that our Hofte had herd this fermoning
He gan to fpeke as lordly as a king,
And fayde, What amounteth all this wit?
What, fhall we fpeke all day of holy writ?
The devil made a Reve for to preche,

Or of a fouter a fhipman or a leche.

Say forth thy Tale, and tary not the time; Lo Depeford, and it is half way prime:

3900

.3893. the chimbe] Kime, Teut. means the prominency of the ftaves beyond the head of the barrel. The imagery is very exact and beautiful.

V. 3902. of a jouter a shipman or a leche] The proverbial expreffion, Ex futore medicus, was perhaps derived from the fable of Phædrus with that title, 1. i. fab. 14. The other, Ex futore naucleras, is alluded to by Pynfon the printer at the end of his edit. of Lyttelton's Tenures, 1525. [Ames, p. 488,] speaking of one Redman, another printer, he says----" Miror "profecto unde nunc tandem fe fateatur typographum, nifi "forte quum Diabolus futorem nauclerum, et illum calcogra phum fecit."

.3904, it is halfway prime] In the Difcourfe, &c. § 14

« ElőzőTovább »